Printing-press bed.



R. T. JOHNSTON. PRINTING PRESS BED.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 1904.

TMW' 11'11"" NNW 1111111 v 5' Y `\f l f. \l

"Mmmm" n 1..... .um ...."mnlulmmu CDLUMBI PLKANOGRAPH CO4, 'AHNGTON. D- C.

Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

R. T. JOHNSTON. PRINTING PRESS BED. APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 1904.

. Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

2 sums-SHEET 2J CoLuMmA PLANOGRAPH :amv/summum i). C.

UNITED sTATEs `PATENT oEEioE. A

ROBERT T. JOHNSTON, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW` JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE .ASSlGrN- MENTS, TO THE AUTOPLATE COMPANY OF AMERICA, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PRINTING-PRESS BED.

To all lwhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ROBERT T. JOHNSTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Printing-Press Bed, of which the following is a specification. V

The object of this invention is to provide an improved construction of a printing press bed.

A printing press bed, as usually constructed, consists of a heavy form supporting part having side flanges and a ribbed lower surface; and extending from the supporting part is a superstructure which carries or has formed with it an ink distributing table in the form of a large and heavy rectangular plate. As larger presses have been designed,

Vso much dilliculty has arisen from the ink distributing tables getting out of shape that designers have been gradually increasing the weight of the superstructure and extending it out farther toward the end of the ink distributing table. Furthermore, so much diliculty has been encountered in providing a rigid bed for supporting the forms that anges have been put on the bottom of the ribs; or some builders have attempted to make that part of thevbed which supports the forms in the shape of a hollow casting. But this necessity of making the superstruc- Vture and the supporting part very solid to carry the ink distributing table accurately and to resist the tremendous pressure'from the impression cylinder during printing is opposed by the factor that the bed and the parts carried therewith should be made as light as possible so that the bed can be easily reciprocated and the press operated.

at high speed without jar. In my application for patent led May 3, 1904, Serial No. 206,127, I have shown, described and claimed an improved form of inking mechanism by which the heavy ink distributing table has been omitted and whereby there is only a small rectangular ink plate or carrier carried by the bed at considerable distance from the forms. In further carrying out said invention, I have found that I can materially lighten the bed and the parts which move therewith by omitting said superstructure and by making the rectangular inkplate an independent part provided with rollers running on the ways of the bed and by connecting said ink-plate to the bed byA Specification of Iietters Patent..

Patented Dec. 5, 1911.-

Application filed May 12, 1904.' Serial No. 207,545.

bars or links so as to hold the ink-plate at the proper'vposition relatively to the forms. These bars or links are arranged between the form-supporting part and the ink plate to allow a relative vertical movement between the parts so that the weight of the ink plate will not be carried by the formsupporting part.

In the attempts which have been previously made to lighten the bed proper by casting the same in the form of a hollow box, great complication has arisen in molding. To get the proper strength a large number of ribs 4are necessarily employed, while, on the other hand, to get the bed as light as possible these ribs must be made as thin as it is possible for metal to run, hence, great difficulty has beenl encountered in properly supporting the cores lduring casting which makes this plan impractical. To overcome this diiculty, I; mold the bed in the upper and lower section and bolt them together. Each section is provided with transverse and longitudinal ribs which match each other so that when the two sections are bolted or riveted together they form a light rigid cellular box-like structure without any opening on the sides or bottom. In this way the ribs of the bed can be made as light as the casting can be poured. The top and bottom surfaces can be cast heavy and planed down to proper thickness. The planed surfaces of the top and bottom can be measured from the inside so that the same can be finished of even ythickness throughout, whereby it will be known precisely how the metal is kdistributed in the bed. The meeting `faces of the yribs can be faced all over so that the two sections will properly match. The parts, by being thus put together, are strengthened something like a shoe-box is strengthened when its cover is put on. In this way, a much stronger and rigid structure is provided for the same weight of' metal as compared with theA old devices.

Referring to the drawings` and in detail,v

In detail, A designates the bed-bottom which is provided with a series of longitudinal ribs a and a series of transverse ribs a2.

B designates the top part of the bed which is provided with longitudinal ribs b and transverse ribs b2 to match the ribs a and a2. This part of the bed is provided with a solid surface so as to form an imperforate top or form-supporting surface.

The two parts of the bed are cast separately and are finished by planing. They then are laid face together and are secured to each other by patch bolts O driven into reamed holes andby side screws D. The bottom of the bed A is provided with the usual ribs 10 in which are itted steel shoes 11 which run on the usual rollers carried by the tracks of the frame, as shown in Fig. 3.

E designates the rectangular ink-carrier or plate. The same is provided with brackets 12 on its underside which carry rollers 13 which run on the second and fifth tracks, whereby the ink-plate is` supported directly on these tracks and the usual superstructure extending out from the bed proper is not needed.

Ears 14 are cast on the lower section of the bed. Side bars or links 15 are pivoted thereto by a single bolt and the ends of said links are rigidly secured'to the inkplate E. Central ears 16 are also formed 0n the lower section of the bed' and matching ears 17 onthe ink-plate. Secured to each of these sets of ears is a small piece 160 which has a central cylindrical portion 1600. A middle link 18 is fitted to these pieces 160. By this arrangement the side links 15-15 are pivoted to the bed and rigidly secured to the ink-plate, while the middle link 18 is pivoted t0 boththe-bed bottom and ink-plate.

The usual registering racks 19 may be secured to the sides of the bed, and' extensions 20 thereof' which operate the distributing rollers of the form inking4 mechan-ism may be bolted to the side bars 15; the joint between the racks 19 and 20 centering on the bolt which pivots the links 15 to the bed so as not to interferel with the pivotedconnection between the ink-plate and the bed. 21 designatesthe rack hanger which is secured tothe bed to carry the usual. upper and lower racks for the main driving mechanism and 22 designates areversing rack which may be secured to the bottom of the bed to make up the parts of a bed-motion operating upon the principle or' that shown, described and claimed in my application for patent filed January 27, 1904, Serial No.l 190,812. These rac-k arrangements orm no part of the present improvement, which relates to the; structure of a printing press bed irrespective of the way thesame is moved, and the aforesaid 'parts are indicated merely to show the points at which the same may be attached in practice.

By the before described arrangements, a printing press bed is provided which is very strong and rigid under impression and by which the usual superstructure extending from the bed is eliminated, and, at the same time, the parts are very light so that the bed can be reciprocated at high speed without ar.

The invention is particularly useful in large presses or those which are designed of considerable width to carry a large number of forms abreast.

The details, as herein shown and described, may be greatly varied by a skilled mechanic without departing from the scope of my invention as expressed in the claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A printing press bed made up of a form-supporting part, an ink plate having trackengaging means, and flexible connections between the form-supporting part vand the ink plate.

2. In printing press construction, the combination of tracks, a printing press bed made up of a form-supporting part running on said tracks, an ink-plate independently fitted to run on said tracks, and flexible Nconnections between the form-supporting part and ink-plate.

3. In printing press construction, the combination of the tracks, and a printing press bed comprising a form-supporting part running on said tracks, an ink-plate provided with' rollers running 0n said tracks, and bars or links flexibly connecting the ink-plate to the form supporting part.

4. In printing press construction, the combination of the tracks, and a printing press bed comprising the form supporting part, an independent ink-plate fitted to run on said tracks, and hinged connections between the form supporting part and the ink-plate.

5. A printing press bed made up of a form supporting part, an ink-plate, pivoted connections between the ink-plate and form supportingA part, racks secured to the sides of the bed, and extensions thereof secured to saidconnections.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribingl witnesses.

ROBERT T. JOHNSTON.

Witnesses:

E. D.- MOFFETT, CHARLES A. WEs'rERF1ELD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents; addressing the Commissioner of` Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

